Capping apparatus



y 1944 J. J. KITTESS CAPPING APPARATUS Filed April 17, 1942 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Q Q INVENTOR. JJ /ress MW 3, J. J. KITTESS CAPPINGAPPARATUS Filed April 17, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR.

JJ." lTTESS y ,1 .J. J. KITTESS 2,349,555

CAPPING APPARATUS Filed April 17, 1942 3 Sheets-SheetG Patented May 23,1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a bottle capping apparatus.

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatusfor placing and securing a closure member upon a container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bottle capping apparatusincluding a novel means for threading a cap upon a bottle.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing a bottle capping apparatus embodyingthe features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken in line 3--3, Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation with parts in section showing the bottle capturning mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevation partly in section showing the capholding station;

Fig. 6 is a wiring diagram; and

Fig. '7 is a section taken in line I'I, Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings by reference characters I have shown myinvention as embodied in a bottle capping apparatus which is indicatedgenerally at I6. The apparatus shown and described is arranged to placescrew caps upon the necks of bottles, but it will be understood thatthis reference to screw caps and bottles is for the purpose ofillustration only and that the apparatus is adapted to place varioustypes of closures upon different types of containers.

As shown the apparatus includes a base Il mounted on suitable legs I2and with reinforcing braces I3 employed to secure rigidity.

The bottles I4 which are to receive caps I4 are transported to thecapping station upon a belt conveyor I5 which at one end is supported ona pulley I6 and at the other end is supported by a similar pulley, notshown. The pulley I6 is mounted on a shaft I! on which a sprocket I8 issecured. The shaft I? is driven by a motor I8 so that the belt moves inthe direction of the arrow A, Fig. 2.

A drive chain I6 passes over the sprocket l8 and passes over a secondsprocket 26 mounted on a shaft 2!. The shaft includes a bevel gear 22(Fig. 2), which drives a bevel gear 23 (Fig. 1) on a shaft 24 supportedin bearings 25 mounted on a frame 26 which is supported on the base I I.

The upper end of the shaft 24 has a sprocket 21 thereon which is engagedby a chain 28. The chain 28 engages a sprocket 29 mounted on a shaft 36and an idler sprocket 3| mounted on a shaft 32. The chain 28 alsoengages a sprocket 33 mounted on a shaft 34. The construction is suchthat the sprockets 29 and 33 and. their respective shafts 36 and 34rotate in opposite directions and since the sprockets 33 and 29 are ofthe same diameter they rotate at the same speed.

The shaft 36 (Fig. 3) drives a pulley 35 over which a supporting belt 36passes. The belt 36 also passes over a pulley 31 mounted on a shaft 38.The shaft 34 supports a pulley 39 which is engaged by a supporting belt46 which also engages a pulley 4I mounted on a shaft 42.

The supporting belts 36 and 46 are arranged parallel to each other andare spaced apart slightly less than the diameter of the bottles I4 whichare intended to be capped. The supporting belts are slackly arrangedover the pulleys 31 and 36 and are tensioned'by outer leaf springs 43mounted on members 44 on the frame members II. Inner leaf springs 45 aremounted on plates 26' secured upon vertical members 26" of the frame 26.As shown in Fig. 3, the springs 43 and 45 engage the inner and outerreaches of the belt.

When bottles I4 are conveyed between the belts 36 and 66 by the conveyorI5, they engage the supporting belts and are advanced with their outeropposed sides engaged by the belts 36 and 46 so that the bottlesare'held against turning. As the bottles advance the springs 45 areforced outwardly thus tending to lessen the tension on the belt. To takecare of this lessened tension the springs 43 act inwardly so thatuniform tension is maintained and the belt is properly driven.

In order to secure the threaded cap upon the threaded bottle neck Iprovide a cap turning apparatus which includes a pair of vertical shafts56 and 5I which are disposed at each side of the conveyor I5. On each ofthe shafts 56 and 5| I mount a wheel 52. These wheels include rims 53which are preferably grooved to receive resilient rubber tires 54. Theshafts 56 and 5I are so disposed that the tires are spaced apart adistance slightly less than the exterior diameter of the bottle cap sothat the bottles are conveyed by belts I5, 36 and 46 with the necks ofthe bottles I4 disposed between the tires 54 so that the tires will gripthe caps upon the bottle necks.

The shaft 56 is provided with a sprocket 55 and the shaft 5I is providedwith a sprocket 56. A chain 51 passes over the sprockets 55 and 56 andalso engages an idler sprocket 58 mounted on the frame member 26a. Thesprocket 56 is of less diameter than the sprocket 55 so that one of thetires 54 will be driven faster than the adjacent tire and in a directionreverse to that of the adjacent tire whereby a twisting action will begiven to the bottle cap engaged by the tires 5 The shaft 50 is providedwith a sprocket 59 which is engaged by a chain 60. The chain 50 passesover a sprocket 6| mounted on a shaft 62. The shaft 82 includes abevelled gear 63 which is driven by a bevel gear 64 on a shaft 65. Theshaft 65 is in turn driven througha suitable change speed'mechani'sm 66from a shaft 61 which is driven by an electric motor 58.

In order to supply caps to the capping apparatus I provide a bottle caphopper which is indicated at 15. The hopper is supported withits axisinclined as shown in Fig. 1, and the hopper includes a base 16 (Fig. 1)which is shown as round and is surrounded by a side wall 11. The sidewall 11 is of greater lengthen the lower side of the hopper so that thecaps will not fall out. Within the hopper I arrange a disk 18'which ismounted on the shaft 19. The shaft 19 extends downwardly as shown inFig. 1 and the shaft and hopper are supported in a frame portion 80which extends upwardly from the base II previously mentioned.

The shaft 19 has a sprocket BI thereon which is engaged by a chain 82.The chain 82 passes over a sprocket 83 mounted on the armature, shaft 84of a motor 85. The construction is such that when the motor 85isoperating the disk 18 will be rotated. The disk 18 on the uppersurface thereof is provided with agitating members 85 which are shown asarranged in cruciform shape and which stir the bottle caps which restupon the disk 18 so that the caps gradually move downwardly in thehopper 15.

In order to control operation of the motor 85 I provide photoelectricmeans including alight sensitive photoelectric cell 81 mounted in thehousing 88 and a source of light mounted in" a housing 90. As shown inFig. 6 the light source 89 is in the circuit 9| to the motor I8 so thatwhen the motor I8 operates the light 89 will be i1- luminated. The lightfrom source 89 passes across the conveyor belt and when uninterruptedenergizes the cell 81 which through a magnet 92 opens a switch 93 to themotor 85. When light from the source 09 is interrupted bythe presence ofa bottle on the conveyor the electro-magnet. 92 releases the switch 93and a. spring 94 pulls the switch to on position so that the motor 85will operate. v

The hopper 15 has a discharge chute I 02 which twists through 90 and isprovided with a main portion I06and a by-pass portion I01. The portionsI05 and I51 merge into a delivery chute I09 which is continued as at II4 and is provided with an exit portion H5. On each side of the exitportion a leaf spring H6 is mounted. These springs H6 are normallyspaced apart a distance less than the diameter of the body of the cap sothat the springs retain the cap in the position shown in Fig. 5.

Below the chute H4 I provide a guide member Which includes dependingwalls H1. The walls H1 are flared outwardly as at H8 so that bottlesadvancing on the conveyor I5 if they are at one side or the other oftheir correct posi tion will be moved by the flaring portion H8 tocorrect position so that they will pass between the sides H1.

The bottom of the chute portion H4 is cut away at H9 so that a bottleadvancing will be in a position to engage the lowermost cap in the chuteH4 as shown in Fig. 5.

A long flexible leaf spring I 20 has one end attached at I2I to thelower end of the chute I l 4 and the other end of the spring is securedat I22 to a bar I23 mounted on the frame 26. The spring I20 restslightly upon caps I4 after they have left the chute H4 and thus preventsaccidental removal of the caps prior to their engagement with thewheels.

Leaf springs I23 in the path of a cap held on a bottle neck by thespring I20 serve to slightly spin the caps before they pass between thetwisting Wheels. 52.

In the operation of my invention a supply of bottle caps is placed inthe hopper 15 and bottles are suitably placed on the conveyor I5. The

motors I8, 68 and H3 are placed in operation.

The bottles passing across the path of light from the exciter 89 to thephotoelectric cell 81 causes themotor 35 to operate so that thehopper-is rotated. v

The bottle caps are discharged into the chute I02 whence they pass tothe chutes I06 and I01 and are delivered into the delivery chute I09.The threaded necks of the bottles, as shown in Fig. 5, engage'theinclined caps and pull the.

caps away from the springs H6. The-bottles are guided into the properposition for engaging the caps by the flaring portions I I8 of the guidemember walls I I1. As the caps advance upon the bottles, the flexibleleaf spring I20 gently presses down upon the caps and holds them inposition as they advance to the cap twisting wheels 52.

As the bottles advance, they move into engagementwith the supportingbelts 35 and 40 and thus are held against axial rotation while theyadvance with the belt I5. As the bottles and caps advance, the capsengage the springs I23 and their turning motion is startedby these lightsprings and the caps then pass between the tires 55 on the wheels 52 andare engaged by these tires. The wheel 52 rotate in opposite directionsand preferably at different speeds.

" The engagement of the tires upon the caps thus turns the capsthreading them securely upon the bottle. The resiliency of the springs43 and 45 is such that the belts continue to move and supportthe bottle,but they are of such construction that they leave the bottles free toturn slightly after the bottle cap has been fully threaded upon thebottle neck, so that the bottle cap will not be mutilated.

From the foregoing description it will be .apparent that I have inventeda novel capping apparatus which can be economically manufac-. tured andwhich is highly efiicient for its intended purpose.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a bottle capping apparatus, bottle conveying means, means tosupport a bottle on said conveying means, a bottle cap delivery chutein-. cluding a discharge portion having means thereon for supporting acap in the path of the neck of a bottle on said conveyor whereby thebottle removes the cap from the supporting means and an elongated,vertically movable means in the path of a cap beyond the cap supportingmeans for holding a cap on the bottle, and a plurality of leaf springsat one side of, the conveying means and having free ends in the path ofa cap to spin the caps as they advance.

2. In a bottle capping apparatus, bottle conveying means, means tosupport a bottle on said conveying means, a bottle cap delivery chuteincluding a discharge portion having means thereon for supporting a capin the path of the neck of a bottle on said conveyor whereby the bottleremoves the cap from the supporting means, and an elongated, verticallymovable, resilient member in the path of a cap beyond the cap supportingmeans and mounted independent of the cap supporting means and slidablyengageable by a cap being advanced on a bottle to hold the cap on thebottle, and a plurality of leaf springs at one side of the conveyingmeans and having free ends in the path of a cap to engage the rotate thecaps as they advance.

3. In a bottle capping apparatus, bottle conveying means, means tosupport a bottle on said conveying means, a bottle cap delivery chuteincluding a discharge portion having means thereon for supporting a capin the path of the neck of a bottle on said conveyor whereby the bottleremoves the cap from the supporting means, means slidably engageable bya cap being advanced on a bottle to hold the cap on abottle, and a leafspring at one side of the conveying means and having a free end in thepath of a cap on a bottle to engage and rotate a cap as it advances.

JASON J. KITTESS.

